OUR NUT TREES 



the Black Sea, and was known to the ancient Greeks as 

 "Nux pontica." The cob-nuts are short and round- 

 ish and have a thick shell, the most familiar being 

 the Barcelona nuts of commerce. A form with large 

 nuts is known in England as the " Kentish Cob." 



Some consider the cob-nuts to belong to a separate 

 species known as C pontica but this seems to be 

 doubtful. The other European species (C. maxima) 

 is a large shrub confined to southern Europe and has a 

 husk contracted above the apex of the nut into a 

 short tube. A recent view is that the Filberts are 

 hybrids between this and C. Avellana. There is also 

 a hybrid between the common C. Avellana and C. 

 colurna (C. intermedia) which has been known in 

 Europe since about 1836 but is still rare. It is 

 fairly intermediate in character though the nut is 

 more like that of C. colurna. . 



Of the three American species C. rostrata is most 

 widely spread and grows throughout- Canada from 

 the east coast to British Columbia, and in this coun- 

 try as far south as Virginia and west to Minnesota. 

 It is a bush of moderate height producing suckers 

 freely; the husk completely encloses the nut and is 

 contracted beyond into a long tube. Another species 

 (C. calijornica) grows in Colorado and westward 

 through northern California, Oregon, and Wash- 

 ington, and differs in having the husk terminate in a 



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